Facebook, FTC Near Privacy Settlement — Facebook Inc. is finalizing a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it engaged in deceptive behavior when changing its privacy settings, according to people familiar with the situation.

Zynga's stock ‘scandal’ — What did I do? — There is no joy in Cityville — the mighty Pincus was called a lout. — Zynga this morning woke up to a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal, accusing the social gaming company and its CEO Mark Pincus of strong-arming employees into giving up previously-granted stock options.

Exclusive: Mark Pincus memo to Zynga employees — Earlier today the Wall Street Journal suggested that social gaming giant Zynga had strong-armed employees into giving up previously-granted stock options. I wrote a follow-up post, arguing that the WSJ made things sound much worse than they really were.

How does Sony make money? Life insurance! — Sony's consumer electronics business — led by TVs, videogames, and computers — still generates about half of the company's sales. — But Sony's profits these days come from what may seem like an unexpected source: Its financial services business …

Google Acquires Katango, The Automatic Friend Sorter — Back in September we broke the news that Google was in talks to acquire Katango, a small Kleiner Perkins-backed startup that launched this past summer. Today, they've made it official: Katango just announced that it's been acquired by Google …

Can A Twitter Account Be A Company Trade Secret? — There has been an ongoing tug-of-war between journalists and publishers over who gets to keep digital possessions after a break-up. The debate took a new twist this week after a court issued a ruling in the case of a tech reporter who walked …

Tech Start-Ups Rethink Worth of Patents — As Silicon Valley behemoths such as Apple Inc. engage in what some fear is patent Armageddon by challenging competitors' technology, smaller tech companies and venture capitalists are changing their long-held view that it isn't worthwhile for start-ups to file for patents.

1% Of Nothing Launches To Get Startups Donating Equity — Shervin Pishevar and Matt Galligan have just formally announced the beta launch of their new organization 1% of Nothing. It's aimed at inspiring early-stage companies to donate 1% of their equity to a cause of their choice.

Thousands Line Up for Hong Kong iPhone 4S Launch (video) — Over three thousand people gathered outside the Hong Kong Apple store for the launch of the iPhone 4S in Hong Kong, but Apple will only allow 1,250 people to line up. A scuffle nearly broke out, and police were called to keep everything under control.

Amazon Updates Appstore in Anticipation of Kindle Fire Arrival — Amazon's first Android tablet, the Kindle Fire, is set to finally come out next week. In advance of its arrival, Amazon is pushing-out an update for its Appstore, bringing the app up to version 2.0 and getting a makeover to fit with the new Fire aesthetic.

Steam user database compromised — Today a message will be going out to all Steam users. According to Valve, the Steam forums were compromised on November 6th, but further investigation revealed that the damage went further than just the forums: The Steam user database was also compromised.

Pandora CTO Reveals Half of The U.S. Pays $0 For Music — Today at GigaOm's RoadMap conference in San Francisco, Pandora CTO Tom Conrad revealed that his company aims to monetize the vast majority of listeners who pay little or nothing per year for music. Conrad explained that …